Absolutely

Stefan at Blog for Democracy gets it exactly right in his open letter to Kasim Reed, who I support in the Atlanta mayor's race. While I want Reed to win, Stefan is 100% correct that HOW you win elections is very nearly as important as WHETHER you win elections, at least for those of us who have to live in this city after a mayor is chosen. I want Reed to win (or rather, unfortunately, I don't want Mary Norwood to be my next mayor), but I don't want him to do it in a way that further polarizes city residents or reinforces the rest of the state's views of what's wrong with Atlanta.

I'm glad someone finally articulated the importance of how the next few weeks go down, because it definitely does matter and the stakes are huge.

As if I needed more evidence...

...that FSU's defense sucks balls:



(via Tomahawk Nation)

Every single Division I-A opponent FSU has played this year had their best offensive game of the season against FSU. (Well, until USF bested its 6.3 yards per play against FSU with 6.4 yards per play against WVU last weekend. But those are pretty close, and WVU also lost that game.)

But remember, I'm crazy or stupid for blaming much of our disastrous season on the completely porous defense. Right. At least I'm not alone.

Also, if you read the linked post above, it is frightening and sad how completely out of touch Bowden is with the particulars of the game he just coached. The man has checked out.

(Though, I do not agree with the suggestion in the linked post that Bobby is going to start accidentally talking racist anytime soon. That's just silly, the man has coached hundreds of players of all races for decades.)

Adventures in Dating #4: One Night Only

Today as I returned to my car from withdrawing a sizeable amount of cash at the bank (long story), I noticed that I had a missed call on my phone from a guy I had been texting with earlier about meeting up tonight. I called him back without checking to see if he had left me a voicemail, and he told me he had accidentally called my phone without realizing it. Thankfully this conversation was not terribly awkward, but it did cause me to remember a similar one that inspired this Adventures in Dating story.

A few years ago when I lived in Boston, fresh off of the breakup of my 6 year relationship and some post-breakup dating disasters that included this infamous tale, I was persuaded by some friends to try internet dating for the first time. This was in approximately 2002 or 2003, when the prospect of meeting someone over the internet was still a vaguely terrifying thing to most people (as opposed to now, when it is normal for many but still creepy and/or terrifying for others), so I was very wary of trying it. Still, I created an account on Matchmaker and went on a couple dates with guys I had absolutely zero chemistry with and prayed that they would never call me again. Some will be featured on future Adventures in Dating posts, so I don't want to shoot my wad entirely here...but let's just say I was reluctant about this whole shebang.

Then I got an email from Joe (at least I think that was his name...it's all a little hazy) and we actually had several good email conversations so I let it progress to phone calls, and after several good phone calls I decided we should go out. Joe had recently left the military, and was a single dad to boot, so he'd moved back to Massachusetts from wherever the hell he had been stationed and was living in the suburbs with his parents while he got situated. He suggested that I take the T out to a stop near where he lived and we would go to dinner, so I did. We met and had a perfectly normal dinner, and then intended to see a movie but the only thing either of us wanted to see was sold out at the one theater in this sleepy suburb. So, Joe suggested he could drive me home and we could grab a drink near my place. If you are halfway intelligent, you see where this is heading.

In a move that shocked even me, and I'm the one that did it, I invited Joe back to my place and he became my first (and to date only) one night stand. It was awful, though I will spare the particular details of why it was so bad. But I fully expected never to hear from Joe again after that night, and I wasn't real bothered by that prospect because I saw nothing I felt the need to go back to.

But ego is a funny thing, and after a few days without getting a phone call or email, I was kind of bummed that he hadn't wanted to see me again and hadn't called. Then one night, I ran downstairs quickly to the CVS next door to my apartment building for something, and when I got back there was a missed call on my cell phone from Joe. Huh, maybe he did want to see me again after all! At least now I'd get the satisfaction of not feeling rejected, even if I had to decline any future dates on account of the worst sex in the history of the universe. (OK, it wasn't THAT bad, but by God it wasn't good or even decent.)

I didn't have a voicemail message icon yet, but since I had just missed the call a couple minutes earlier, I decided to call back and see what he wanted. Joe answered, and the conversation went like this:

Me: "Hi, it's Sara, I just noticed I have a missed call on my phone from you."
He: "Um, I didn't call you."
Me: "Okaaaay...but my phone says that you, in fact, did call me and I just called back the last number that called me, and it was you."
He: "Nope, didn't call you."
Me: "Hm. Nevermind then."(This is awkward.)
He: "OK, bye."
Me: *MORTIFIED*

I never heard from him again. I suppose there are a thousand reasons why he could have not realized his phone had called me. He could have accidentally hit a button, he could have been trying to delete my number and accidentally hit send, one of his parents or a girlfriend (or, God forbid, a wife he neglected to mention) could have dialed the last number in his received calls list...who knows. It was all very shady and strange and awful. But I came away from the experience feeling completely smacked down for my naivete in calling him back without thinking for a second that perhaps there had been some mistake.

And that feeling, I think, is why I have been unable to bring myself to have any one night stands since that time. I think it was just such a dehumanizing and demoralizing experience because of that stupid non-call afterwards that I decided then and there never to expose myself to such humiliation ever again.

Mood Music: a Twofer

The song I previously posted was M. Ward, featuring Zooey Deschanel. They previously collaborated together as She & Him, and this song just gets under my skin and stays there for days.

Mood Music: Just like A-B-C edition

But now that I've been through that hell
I've got a story to tell...

Random Football Rant

Yesterday, longtime Florida State Defensive Coordinator Mickey Andrews finally put himself out of his own misery and announced he would retire after this season. This decision couldn't come soon enough, since FSU's defense is ranked 109th out of 120 teams...in other words, there's only 11 teams WORSE than we are on defense right now.

This creates an opening for next year, which poses a problem. Bobby Bowden only has one more year that he could possibly be head coach before FSU will have to pay Jimbo Fisher $5 mil. if they decide to keep Bobby. There is virtually no way that will happen, which means Bobby either retires this year, or next year. So, since Jimbo Fisher will apparently inherit the team after one more season, there is a question of who gets to pick the new Defensive Coordinator.

Normally the head coach gets to hire his coordinators, but if Bobby hired a new one, anyone interested in the job would have to realize they'd only have one year to prove themselves before Jimbo could replace them with whoever he wants. Who would take a job in that climate? Or, since Jimbo will be the coach after next season, FSU could let him choose the new Defensie Coordinator with the expectation that his choice would stay when Jimbo is elevated to Head Coach.

Today, Bobby Bowden announced he plans to select the next Defensive Coordinator. He might let Jimbo have some input, but he's still making the selection.

This makes me so angry I want to throw things. For starters, Bobby should be out at season's end. Our team is terrible, he's completely oblivious and saying things like how we're a few big plays away from being undefeated, and the boosters have lost faith in him. But he apparently intends to coach to the bitter end of his contract and continue to blindly believe that next year we'll magically have a good team even if all evidence points to Bobby and his handpicked staff having run the program into the ground.

But even if he wanted to coach one more year (something I wish the administration would strongly discourage), why the hell does he get to pick the Defensive Coordinator who will only coach under him for one dadgum year? When will he start acknowledging that starting in 2011 this is Jimbo Fisher's team, and his era is over?

There have been rumblings on the internets that Bobby intends to appoint Chuck Amato to the Defensive Coordinator position for 1 year. Amato was a former defensive assistant at FSU before he left to become head coach of NC State, where he was horrible. Now he's back with some bullshit title like "Executive Head Coach (who also pretends to coach linebackers)." Given how bad our defense is, I don't want anyone currently affiliated with the defensive coaching staff to even be in the running. In fact, I'd like to see virtually all of them replaced when Andrews leaves, hopefully with the input of the new DC.

But if Bobby appoints Amato to DC, nothing will change. The team will still suck. And all of us who care about FSU football will be sitting here twiddling our thumbs for another wasted year waiting for him to finally retire or die so that we can start rebuilding.

We have a fantastic quarterback in Christian Ponder, something that has been completely lost in this waste of a season. Ponder has the potential to be Heisman-worthy next year, if he could get the defensive support he needs to win games. By all but announcing his intention to stay next year, Bobby is probably dooming Ponder to the trash heap of wasted potential behind an inadequate defense. In all likelihood even the best Defensive Coordinator on the market wouldn't be able to turn around this shitty defense enough to help Ponder make a run at major glory next year, but at least we'd have a fighting chance and wouldn't be stuck in defenseless shootouts against the likes of USF, Georgia Tech, and N.C. State.

I wish someone in the Athletic Department or administration of FSU would FINALLY draw a line with Bowden. It's time, because this is unacceptable. If he stays next year and hand selects a Defensive Coordinator, I will not renew my season tickets or give another dime to the school until he's gone.

Mood Music: Old school Lucinda edition

Shouldn't I have this
shouldn't I have this
Shouldn't I have all of this and...

Election Day

I've agonized over whether to do an endorsements post for the city elections that are happening today, because I'm concerned I will not be able to provide good strong reasons for my votes. So instead, I will just tell you who I am voting for and let you sort out whether it makes any sense or not.

Atlanta Mayor: Kasim Reed
Oh how I have struggled over this vote. I do not particularly like any of the candidates, but Reed made me cringe the least. Then Shirley Franklin gave him her quasi-endorsement yesterday, which I had feared for months. In the end, I'm going to hold my nose and vote for Reed anyhow.

City Council President: Clair Muller
When I don't really know anything about the candidates, I vote for the girl.

City Council At Large Post 1: Michael Julian Bond
Because some of my politically astute friends said so.

City Council At Large Post 2: Amir Farokhi
Because we need to build a bench of young charismatic progressives in this state.

City Council At Large Post 3: Lamar Willis
This is a hold my nose vote, since Willis has had some ethical issues but from all accounts his opponent is not a better option.

City Council District 6: Alex Wan
I've met him, and he was impressive while the other candidates are all either really unpalatable or completely unprepared for real political office, judging by their increasingly bizarre mailers and astroturf wars in the Creative Loafing blog comments. This race is guaranteed to head to runoff, so I just hope this is one of the two lucky campaigns that get to fight it out for another month so we can watch the antics continue. (In the interest of full disclosure, I also know his campaign manager.)

For all of the Board of Education races,I'll be voting for the incumbent since I have no children in school and therefore no reason to believe that Fulton county schools are being run poorly. I have met Charlie Stadtlander, who is running for one of those seats, but I recently heard he's a Republican so that pretty much nixed any desire I had to deviate from my incumbency votes.

So there you have it. I'll be heading to Inman Middle School this morning, where I expect turnout will be ridiculously light. That's sad, because this is an important election for the City of Atlanta and will impact all of us more than we may realize.

Still alive

Despite appearances, I'm still kicking. Last week I went to Baltimore for 4 days of cupcaking and the most beautiful wedding I've ever been to. When I returned I was swamped and exhausted...and promptly got sick.

I was just sick with a cold a month ago (had to push back a first date I was eagerly anticipating, so I remember the inconvenient timing of that illness well), so this new illness concerned me. I was particularly concerned because we have a confirmed case of swine flu in my office and my secretary was out on Tuesday with a fever and vomiting. Also, I made the ill-advised joke to several people on Monday that at least if I got swine flu I could stay home from work for a week. Eek!

When I got home Tuesday night I had a fever of 101.5 and a weird rattle in my chest. I was moderately concerned, so I stayed home yesterday and worked from here under the guise of "better safe than sorry," but the earliest I could get in to see the doctor was this morning. Since my fever didn't get much worse but my cough did, I determined through intrepid hypochondriac googling that I likely had bronchitis, outside chance of pneumonia. This is exactly what the doctor told me, but thankfully the meds she prescribed (Z-pak, Albuterol inhaler) were good to treat either condition.

So, hopefully I'm on the mend now. That, or I'll get full blown pneumonia and HAVE to take time off of work.